You do what you can to stay healthy during the winter and early spring months.
You get plenty of rest. Wash your hands constantly. Even take your vitamin C.
Despite all that, you may come down with the flu. Or a cold. Either way, you’re looking at up to a week of coughing, sneezing, body aches, and maybe fever.
Experts will tell you that nothing will make a cold shorter. There are antiviral medications that can shorten the flu, but they only work if you take them immediately.
Commercial cold and flu medicines can help with symptom relief, but they can have undesirable side effects.
Fortunately, several homeopathic alternatives are available. These can relieve your symptoms, but without the side effects associated with commercial cold and flu remedies.
Here are some of the more effective homeopathic remedies for cold and flu symptoms:
Immune System Boosters
Just because you caught a cold or the flu doesn’t mean your immune system has given up the fight.
In fact, these immune system boosters can help your body to fight off invading viruses, reduce symptoms, and even shorten the duration of your illness.
- Vitamin A You can get this immune booster from dairy products and fatty fish, or from a supplement. It’s especially effective at fighting upper respiratory inflammation.
- Vitamin C Back in the 70s, Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling recommended vitamin C to help your immune system fight off viral infections. Some experts (including Pauling) recommend 1000mg of vitamin C daily. Citrus fruits and cruciferous vegetables are good sources of vitamin C, but it can be difficult to meet your needs from food sources alone. That’s where vitamin C supplements come in. Your body can’t store vitamin C, so you need to take it on a daily basis to get its benefits. And don’t worry…if you take more than your body can use, the excess gets eliminated in your urine.
- Vitamin D Some of your vitamin D is produced by your skin from sunlight. The rest comes from sources like vitamin D fortified milk, fatty fish, liver, and red meat. It shouldn’t be a surprise that your vitamin D levels can get low during the winter when you’re mostly indoors. You may need a vitamin D supplement at this time of the year to support your immune health.
- Zinc Recent research supports taking zinc as soon as you feel the onsite of cold symptoms. It can both shorten the length of your cold and reduce the severity of your symptoms.
Sore Throat and Cough Soothers
If your cold or flu bug has camped out in your upper airways, symptoms may include a sore throat or cough. These can be painful, and they can also make it hard to stay hydrated.
Rather than using commercial sprays and cough medicine, try these natural remedies to help your throat:
- Ginger For centuries (or maybe longer), ginger has been a go-to for sore throat relief. Recent studies indicate that ginger may have anti-inflammatory properties.
- Turmeric Related to ginger, turmeric root also has anti-inflammatory properties. For best results, take turmeric with black pepper to improve absorption of its active ingredient, curcumin.
- Hot Liquids Hot tea, soup, or broth can soothe your throat and help you to stay hydrated. Many people find effective relief from ginger-turmeric tea.
- Salt Water To help sooth your cough, mix half a teaspoonful of salt with lukewarm water and gargle for a few seconds before you spit it out.
- Honey Add honey to your tea or other hot beverages to help relieve your cough.
It Starts With Good Health…and Balanced Hormones
All of these homeopathic remedies will work better when your immune system is strong and can effectively combat the invading virus.
But a strong immune system depends upon balanced hormones. Renew Youth can help you to maintain balanced hormones, and we can also help you make other good choices that will support your immune system through cold and flu season.
To find out more, schedule a free consultation with Renew Youth by calling 800-859-7511 or use our contact form.